Washburn Tunnel to close next two weekends

Erin Mulvane, Houston Chronicle

By Erin Mulvaney

Updated 3:48 pm, Monday, November 26, 2012

Cars cross the Washburn Tunnel in Houston during a regular traffic day on Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2009, in Houston. The tunnel is a two-lane underwater motor-vehicle tunnel connecting Galena Park and Pasadena, two suburbs of Houston, Texas. Completed in 1950, it travels north-south underneath the Houston Ship Channel. It was named after Harris County, Texas Auditor Harry L. Washburn.

Photo: Julio Cortez, .

Cars cross the Washburn Tunnel in Houston during a regular traffic...

FILED: WASHBURN TUNNEL. 05/27/1950 - Pedestrians walk in the Washburn tunnel on opening day. HOUCHRON CAPTION (12/12/1999): On opening day in 1950, crowds walk the length of the Washburn Tunnel, under the Ship Channel. HOUSTON CHRONICLE SPECIAL SECTION: THE HOUSTON CENTURY.

The Washburn Tunnel will be closed for the next two weekends while officials install security cameras in the two-lane, underwater passage.

The tunnel, which connects Galena Park and Pasadena, will be closed between Friday Nov. 30 at midnight to Monday Dec. 3 at 4 a.m. It will also be closed between the same times from Friday Dec.7 and Monday Dec. 10, according to Harris County Precinct Two Commissioner Jack Morman.

Incident management security cameras will be installed in the tunnel during those weekends.

The Lynchburg Ferry will extend operating hours from 4:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. for those two weekends. Drivers can take alternate routes across the ship channel through the 610 East Loop Freeway bridge, the Sam Houston Parkway North bridge and Highway 146/Fred Hartman Bridge.

Emergency vehicles en route will be allowed to drive through the tunnel after stopping at the North or South Guard station for access.

"We want to inconvenience our citizens as little as possible so we will expand the Lynchburg Ferry's weekend hours for those two weekends and encourage motorists to use alternate routes. We look forward to having an updated incident management system and the added security the cameras will bring," Morman said in a statement.